Kraken Magnetic Drive

[Urus28]

During the construction of my space station I noticed a problem of uncontrollable rotation. A quick search for the problem origin shows that the magnet of the advance grabbing Unit (AGU) was still active and this was creating a strong torque.

During some experiments I also discovered that the AGU was particularly attracted by motor parts.

So I decided to make a little experiment to see if I can make an engine with the AGU... And well, it works.

The first test was difficult because of the electric consumption of the magnet : roughly 100CE/s at full charge.

Since this first experiment I made a deeper exploration of the Kraken Magnetic Drive...

For the construction the AGU must be on top of the engine target, both must be aligned or you will create torque.

There are three parameters affecting the KMD thrust :

• The power of the magnet can use to throttle up or down your engine, it also change the electric consumption
• The distance between the magnet and the target, there is an optimal distance between the two, too far the engine lose thrust (but can still be usable), too close you no more have thrust

• The mass of the target. The KMD gives a thrust roughly equal to 10 times the mass of the target, this for the same electric consumption. The S3 Vector gives 40t of thrust at max magnet. I tested with several motors in front of the magnet but only one motor is taking into account.

The KMD works in space or in atmosphere without difficulty, I made planes with it. Since the power requirement is high I used nuclear reactors for electrical supply but it works with solar panels or PB Nuk.

I've noticed no kraken problem with it, the game seems to perfectly accept this kind of engine.

I don't think I will use this kind of engine in my game because it's an exploit of the game physics and make all other engines useless. But it can be interesting to use it if you want to make science fiction spaceship.

 

Edit : This is working thanks to Konstruction Mod, this mod is bringing the magnet feature to the AGU.

Thank you @Geonovast for the correction !

Edited May 14, 2018 by Urus28

[Levelord]

Time for me to dust myself off and return to building Kraken drives FOR SCIENCE. Gonna use your idea and build planes!

[Lisias]

I have this mysterious and unexplainable urge to use this on blimps....

[The Aziz]

Proof that even years after whatever Danny did with the Klaw, it's still magic.

[roboslacker]

You've completely revolutionized Krakentech.

[Urus28]

7 hours ago, Levelord said:

Time for me to dust myself off and return to building Kraken drives FOR SCIENCE. Gonna use your idea and build planes!

Don't hesitate to share the results ! I'm curisous

7 hours ago, Lisias said:

I have this mysterious and unexplainable urge to use this on blimps....

I hope you will have fun ^^

7 hours ago, The Aziz said:

Proof that even years after whatever Danny did with the Klaw, it's still magic.

I forgotten about this video... Thank you for the reminder ! Unfortunately I've not destroyed the planet with my engine... Sad...

5 hours ago, roboslacker said:

You've completely revolutionized Krakentech.

Thanks !

[Gargamel]

16 hours ago, Urus28 said:

The KMD works in space or in atmosphere without difficulty, I made planes with it. Since the power requirement is high I used nuclear reactors for electrical supply but it works with solar panels or PB Nuk.

Most kraken drives are ugly and ungainly (your first pic included, although it is nicely symmetrical), but this plane is a thing of simplicity and beauty. 

[Urus28]

5 hours ago, Gargamel said:

Most kraken drives are ugly and ungainly (your first pic included, although it is nicely symmetrical), but this plane is a thing of simplicity and beauty. 

Thank you for your interest !

Well the first one was just to prove the concept, I did not even think about making it beautiful (except the nose cone, I love nose cone).

In general I try to have an aesthetic in my ships but I don't think simplicity would the word for it, I love intricate design 

[Xurkitree]

Wow, this neeeds to be experimented with.

[Geonovast]

Muwhwhahahha.  This is awesome!

[Lisias]

I had to do this... I simply had! =D

https://kerbalx.com/Lisias/Krakenlin-Mk1

[Dman979]

21 hours ago, Urus28 said:

 Unfortunately I've not destroyed the planet with my engine... Sad...

Yet.

This is pretty awesome, I think.

Could you use the torque to make a helicopter?

Also, this sharing of crafts and design techniques has been moved to the Spacecraft Exchange.

[Urus28]

4 minutes ago, Dman979 said:

Yet.

This is pretty awesome, I think.

Could you use the torque to make a helicopter?

Also, this sharing of crafts and design techniques has been moved to the Spacecraft Exchange.

I made a try to make an helicopter with a rather bad result, but the wing surface was very limited and I quickly move to big wheels to destroy the KSP... I guess it can work.

My main concern is about the resistance of the pivot with very powerful engine.

Thank you for the move, it's probably better suited for the Spacecraft Exchange =)

2 hours ago, Geonovast said:

Muwhwhahahha.  This is awesome!

Congratulations for this first magnetic fly !

52 minutes ago, Lisias said:

I had to do this... I simply had! =D

https://kerbalx.com/Lisias/Krakenlin-Mk1

Can your Zeppelin reach orbit with kraken magnetic drive ?

Edited May 13, 2018 by Urus28

[Lisias]

45 minutes ago, Urus28 said:

Can your Zeppelin reach orbit with kraken magnetic drive ?

YES! :-) But it needed MOAR BOOS.. I mean MOAR KRAKENS. :-)

[SG Aero]

MWAHAHAHA SCREW YOU ION ENGINE PREPARE TO BE CONQUERED KERBOL SYSTEM

ahem what I mean was “Joy! The restrictive Ion engine is no longer necessary to build non military crafts which is what I very much meant by “prepare to be conquered kerbol system.”

 

anyway I’m gonna make a ship outta this. Probably gonna sheath it in a fairing and use it for a spacecraft in the Naval Battle League thread.

[Lisias]

1 hour ago, Urus28 said:

Can your Zeppelin reach orbit with kraken magnetic drive ?

Uploaded a space able version on kerbal x,

[Urus28]

13 minutes ago, ShadowGoat said:

MWAHAHAHA SCREW YOU ION ENGINE PREPARE TO BE CONQUERED KERBOL SYSTEM

ahem what I mean was “Joy! The restrictive Ion engine is no longer necessary to build non military crafts which is what I very much meant by “prepare to be conquered kerbol system.”

 

anyway I’m gonna make a ship outta this. Probably gonna sheath it in a fairing and use it for a spacecraft in the Naval Battle League thread.

I'm not familiar with the naval battle league but I'm not sure this physic exploit will be welcome.

Happy exploration and good luck for your battles.

17 minutes ago, Lisias said:

Uploaded a space able version on kerbal x,

Great !

[Lisias]

17 minutes ago, Urus28 said:

[About a "space blimp" on Kerbal X]

Great !

Keep in mind that there's a limit on the height you can reach relying only on buoyancy. I found basically two ways to reach orbit on this "blimp":

1. Going ballistic:
   1. Turn on the Reactor, set the HLAirships plugin to "Altitude Control On", set it to 1.00m/s
   2. Set all KDM drives to 100% (hit "0" many times)
   3. Once the "Buoyancy - Heght" gauge reaches a positive value, release the clamps
   4. Wait the airship to climb 10 or 15 meters, then engage the KMD ("1")
   5. Set the buoyancy to 100%, disengaging the "Altitude Control On".
   6. Allow her to keep her nose up - otherwise the drag will impair your speed
   7. Watch the Apoapsis (use KER). Stop the drives when the apoapsis is about 70% to 80% the desired orbit
   8. Drop her nose to horizon level.
   9. Engage the drives and go for the horizontal speed.
   10. Stop when your periapsis reach the desired orbit.
   11. Drop her nose below the horizon to drain vertical speed and avoid exceeding the desired orbit at apoapsis while gaining horizontal speed.
2. Cannonical Spaceplane approach:
   1. Almost the same, but do not disengage "Altitude Control On".
   2. Do not allow her nose to go higher than 5 to 15°
   3. Once she reaches her maximum buoyancy altitude, engage SAS and raise her nose a bit until you have some lift again. From now on, she is a lifting body
   4. Use F-12 to enable the Aerodynamic Forces Overlay. It helps.
   5. Once at 50.000 more or less, drop her nose a bit and go for the horizontal speed.
   6. Do not raise the horizontal speed above Mach 6 until you reach at least 55.000 Meters High. She will overheat.
   7. Use SAS to Prograde as soon as you loose lift for good.
   8. Watch the Apoapsis (use KER). Stop the drives when the apoapsis reaches the desired orbit
   9. At apoapsis, go Prograde and start a "burn" until the periapsis is at desired level.

Using ballistic, you reach space pretty fast! (boy, she flies fast!). But is pretty hard to control the orbit's inclination and eccentricity. The Cannonical way is less fun, but give you far more control about the orbit parameters. :-)

 

[SG Aero]

With this advancement, the tech tree might need some rebalancing.

[Majorjim!]

Damn this is awesome!! A stable kraken drive? Someones in line to win a Kobel prize!

[nascarlaser1]

is this strictly for 1.4+ or would it work for older versions of the game?

[Urus28]

3 hours ago, nascarlaser1 said:

is this strictly for 1.4+ or would it work for older versions of the game?

I think it's only 1.4+, I don't remember to have a magnet setting on the AGU on previous version of the game.

[Geonovast]

5 hours ago, nascarlaser1 said:

is this strictly for 1.4+ or would it work for older versions of the game?

 

1 hour ago, Urus28 said:

I think it's only 1.4+, I don't remember to have a magnet setting on the AGU on previous version of the game.

Worked fine for me in 1.3.1, but I think the magnetic ability came from a mod.

Edit: Yup, it's from Konstruction!

Edited May 14, 2018 by Geonovast

[MiffedStarfish]

Wow, thats amazing! I've tried making one, but no success so far. Could you please put up a craft file for reverse engineering?

[Bubbadevlin]

Nice! this looks really cool